Richmond and joseph g



i @with t @anni @fitte EDWARD RICHMOND AND JOSEPH e. MOODY, or NEW YORK7 N. Y.

Lett/37's Patent No. (34,366, dated April 30, 1867.

TIGKETrSAFE 'AND ALARM-.BELl-J.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that we, EDWARD RrcnnoND and Josnrn G. MOODY, of New York, in the county and State of New York, have .invented a certain new and improved Ticket-Safe and Alarm-Bell; and 'we herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and. exact description ofthe same, reference being had to the accompanying l drawings.

It is the object of our invention to remedy certain disadvantages and inconveniences to which those who travel by rail or steamboat are now subjected. y

Under the present system in force upon most railroads, as, for instance, on the road between Washington and New York, each passenger is furnished with a string of coupons, which are gradually taken up by the different conductors on the road, each conductor tearing o from the series the coupon representing his fractional part of the road, and giving the passenger a check, which must be surrendered to the conductor before the cars arrive at the terminus of his part of the road. The conductor en the next succeeding snbdivisionof the road goes through the same process with each passenger, and so this constant change and interchange of tickets is kept up until the cars reach their destination. The necessity under which the traveller is at all times, day and night, of keeping his coupons in sight, and of presenting them for the inspection of the conductor, and of receiving and -returning checks, rives rise to considerable trouble and discomfort, as any one who has travelled will readily testify.

Another and even more serious annoyance' the traveller is subjected to is the necessity he is under of remaining in his seat, in order to prevent its being taken by other passengers. Under the present system there is no way by which the possessor of a seat can indicate that it is taken, unless he remains by it himself, or leaves init his coat or shawl or some other article, which is liable to be stolen or carried olf during his absence, and, at best, affords but little security against the seatbeing occupied by another person.

Our design is to remedy these drawbacks to travel, and in order to do this we employ the following means.:

To the side of the railroad car, between each seat7 or to each berth or `state-room in a sleeping-car or steamboat, We attach a box or safe, intended for holding the tickets of the occupants of the seat or berth or stateroom, and of indicating that such seat,.&c., is taken. This ticket-safe we prefer to construct as shown in the accompanying drawings, in Whichi Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section; and' Figure 2 is a front elevation of thc safe.

The front, a, of the safe is hinged at b, so as to admit of being opened, and it is held in place at the top by Vmeans of a spring-catch or lock, c. Inside the box is a cushion or tty-leaf, d, which is hinged at c to the bottom of the box, and is held up or pressed against the front a by means of'springs f. Other springs, f', may also be used, which are attached to the leaf d, and are so curved as to bring their heels or lower ends in contact with the projecting hinge e, so that if the leaf be pushed back, the-pressure of the hinge against the said lower ends shall cause -the upper ends of the springs to bear strongly against the leaf, and to force it up against the front piece a as soon as the superior back pressure is removed:v The top of lthe leaf is provided with a flange, d', projectingout from the front of the leaf, which is overlapped by a projecting lip' or flange, al, on the upper part of the front or door a of the safe. A longitudinal slot orf opening, g, is made on the top of the safe, just at the point where the flanges al cl' overlap, through which slot the tickets are inserted, between the leaf d and the front a of the safe; the spring-leaf being for this purpose pushed back from the front through the openings a2 in the door of the safe, so as to separatethe two lips al d. The openings a2 in the safe are intended partly for the purpose just mentioned, but their chief use isto show the tickets which have been placed in the safe, as indicated in red lines in g. 1. The safe shown in the drawings has two windows or openings, a2, and is intended foi-,the ordinary railroad car, to be used with every bench which seats two persons. When thusmade, there should be a projecting liange or partition between the twoopening-s, so as to prevent the tickets from being removed or sliding from the one to the other. In order to use these ticket-safes properly, the ordinary coupons which are purchased by passengers at the railway .stations should have attached to them a destination ticket, for insertion in one of the safes, and a check, or other token, indicating that the possessor is entitled to his passage to the place named on the check.

In order to explain fully the manner in which our invention may be carried into effect, let it be supposed,

for vinstance, that a person is desirous of going to New York from Washington. After he has purchased his ticket, such as we have just described, at the lVashington station, he tears off from his string of coupons, and places in'his pocket or other convenient place, the check which indicates that he has paid for ticket No. and is entitled to one seat and passage from Washington to New York. He then removes from the coupons the destination ticket, and after entering the car places' it in one of the unoccupied ticket-safes, indicating in this manner that the seat represented by the safe, or subdivision of the safe in which he has placed his destination ticket, is paid for, and is-occupied by and belongs to the holder ofthe seat No. After the train is in motion, the'conductor passes through the cars, and instead of taking up his one fractional coupon, and punching a hole in it, and then giving a check over his fractional part of the road, to again trouble the passenger by calling for the check beforereaching the terminus of his part of the road, he takes all of the coupons, tears oil' that which is due to his part'of the road, and places the balance either in that portion of the ticket-safe in rear of the HyI-leaf d, which portion for this purpose may be provid/ed with another slot similar to the slot g, and arranged so as to be opened and closed like the front part of the safe, or, which we deem preferable, in a separate box or safe accessible only to the keys of the diferent conductors employed en the road. When the latter method is employed the conductorssafe can be at the end of each car, or there need not be more than one for each train, and the coupons or tickets may be deposited therein, those for each locality or station being in a bundle or bunch by themselves. The Washington conductor leaves the train at Baltimore, and the new conductor, entering there for Wilmington, instead of troubling the passengersifor their tickets, has onlyto unlock the co'nductors safe and compare the number of tickets with the destination tickets in each safe, and to remove the coupon due for passage over his portion ofthe road, the passenger being in all cases secured in his right to his seat and passage by means of the check and destination ticket. If the passenger purchases a ticket for Baltimore instead of New York, the destination ticket remains in the safe, and the seat becomes public or unoccupied, as indicated by the ticket, which shows that the holders right to a passa-ge expires at Baltimore. Another passenger entering at Baltimore, bound for Philadelphia, 'takes the same seat, and, pressing back the inside spring-leaf of the ticket-safe, inserts his destination ticket in the slot y, in front of and so as to cover the former ticket, thus exhibiting his ticket through one of the openings, a", and securing his seat for Philadelphia. On reaching that city the seat is vacated, and can be again filled or taken by placing over the other two tickets one for New York or any intermediate station. After the arrival of the train at NewYork an employee of the railroad company unlocks the safes and collects the fractional Ydestination tickets, which have not `only secured the different seats, but must also correspond in number with all the tickets sold and'used on `the train. And it will readily be seen that if the rule be established that all passengers shall purchase their tickets at all stations before being admitted to the cars, the system or method we have above indicated will alord a ready means for verifying the accounts of the conductors, and preventing any fraud on their part.-

The overlapping flanges al d in the ticket-safe, represented in the drawing, prevent the ticket from being removed from the safe without unlocking the door or fr ont a, the ticket being kept down by the flange d when the inside leaf is forced back, and by either or both the two flanges a1 d when the leaf is pressed -u-pagainst the front of, the safe.

We attach to the safe an alarm-bell, A, of ordinary construction, which can be so combined with the saf as to be struck by hand, or by the locking or unlocking of the s afe, as desired. The ticket-safe with this bell attached is secured to the head of the berth, or on the outside of the state-room, so that each passenger in a sleeping-car or steamboat can be awakened, as his destination ticket mayindicate, without disturbing the other passengers whose places of destination are further o'n.

Having described our invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be carried into effect, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- ,Y

l. The herein-described ticket-safe or receptacle, the same consisting of a box slotted to admit of the insertion of the tickets, and provided with a door, in which openings are formed, and an inside leaf or plate, held' against the door by means of springs, the said door and spring-leaf being held to the box in such manner as that the tickets, when inserted through the said slot, may be securely hield between them, as herein shown and set forth. l

2. The combination, with the slotted box or safe, of the hinged door and inside spring-leaf or plate, having formed on their upper ends flanges or lips, which overlap each other so as to prevent the withdrawal of the tickets placed within the said box, substantially as herein shown and described. l

3. The combination, with the herein-described ticket-safe, of an alarm bell, attached to said safe substantially in the ymanner and for the purpose herein shown and specified.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification before two subscribing witnesses,

I EDWARD RICHMOND,

JOSEPH G. MOODY.

Witnesses:

JNO. M. GRANT, WILLARD JOHNSON. 

